I turned in my first British paper (the one I wrote in the pub). It wasn’t too hard to write, but, my god, who knew turning in papers could be so complicated. Still, three online submissions, a couple paper copies, several cover sheets and one existential crisis later, I walked away from my home department with only moderate fear of having fucked up the turn-it-in process somehow.

2. Alcohol(ism)

I told myself I was going to abstain from (excessive) drinking until I finished all of my papers. I told myself, “No more than two-three nights a week.” I failed miserably: no more than two or three of my nights in the past two weeks have been remotely sober. This includes Sundays, in particular this most recent one. Which brings me to…

3. Halloween in London

Not as good as it is in the States, not gonna lie. No one appreciates funny costumes here. They just tell you you’re not scary and walk away. Though I gotta hand it to them: Londoners go out in droves on Halloween, even if it’s Sunday. They also love jagerbombs. Still trying to figure out the reason behind that affinity.

5. Clubs

Speaking of clubs (which make up about a third of all London establishments) they’re absolutely ridiculous. From the multilevel, M.C. Escher ones to the posh ones with ping pong tables, the difference in clubs is as pervasive as the difference in people. Also, like people, clubs celebrate their birthdays, but they do it better than most humans do.

6. Midterm Elections

Less of a political show and more of a comedy show for Brits, they watch the midterm elections more closely than they watch their own. They find it confusing (admittedly, so do I) so I find myself decoding obscure concepts for them (like Christine O’Donnel). People will be breaking out the popcorn and pints tonight, regardless of their confusion. It’s like their version of Lost.

7. Reading Week

Just like at Northwestern, we have a reading week here. But it’s next week (in the middle of the term) and it’s specifically designed for you to “catch up on all the readings you’re likely to have accumulated over the course of the term” (imagine appropriately pretentious British accent). But because I don’t really have to read for my classes to pass them, I don’t really have any work to catch up on. So the long and short of it is I’ll be in Italy next week.